Funeral & Fester
Wednesday stood in the crowd of mourners at Mayor Walker’s funeral and scanned them all one by one.
There was the grieving widow, dressed with a black veil over her face, screaming her heartbreak out to the earth that would soon be swallowing her husband. Kneeling beside her, looking like one of Peter Pan’s truly lost boys, was Lucas Walker, a cast still covering his arm where Harry had broken it. Dr. Kinbott hovered closely to Lucas, her face a perfectly believable mask of empathetic grief for the family who lost their patriarch.
Sheriff Galpin stood with his fellow officers of the law, dressed in the blue uniform made for official times of celebration or mourning.
Principal Weems looked nearly as devastated as the widow, her eyes hadn’t stopped shedding tears since the coffin began lowering to the ground. Surrounding her were the teachers of Nevermore, all dressed in respectful black.
Wednesday stood with the other Nevermore students and the normie friends of Lucas Walker who came to show their support. On one side of Wednesday stood Enid, holding the umbrella that kept Wednesday dry from the rain. On the other side of Wednesday, stood Harry, leaning heavily in Tyler Galpin’s side as they shared an umbrella with Xavier Thorpe.
Usually, Wednesday enjoyed funerals. She used to crash them after reading obituaries as a child. This one was pointless though- this one was the death of a man in an act to cover up more deaths.
And the murderer was someone in attendance, Wednesday was certain of it.
Possibly even two people, the accomplice and the monster.
Whoever they were, whatever masks of shared grief they wore, Wednesday was determined to find them.
When the dirt was thrown on the coffin and the mourners were beginning to filter away, a slight movement from the tree line to Wednesday’s right caught her eye.
“I’ll catch up,” Wednesday murmured to Enid before hastily turning to jog toward the trees. If it was a person planning on crashing the funeral for their own nefarious purposes, then Wednesday would catch them.
And if it was someone linked to the death itself, so much the worse for them and the better for Wednesday.
*****
“Hey, man, I’m sorry.” Tyler reached a hand out to Lucas, who accepted it without so much as a frown. Harry could barely stand to look in Lucas’ face, as filled with grief as it was. Lucas accepted Tyler’s hand and they pulled each other close, bumping shoulders.
“Give me a call, anytime,” Tyler told him, his own face taut with grief.
Harry simply nodded at Lucas, sure he didn’t want consoled by the kid who broke his arm, and walked away with Tyler and Xavier.
“I thought you guys didn’t get along,” Xavier said to Tyler while they made their way away from the cemetery.
Where they were going, Harry didn’t know. He’d seen Wednesday take off immediately after the service, Enid right behind her, and figured he’d take the opportunity to try and work with Tyler. He hadn’t factored in Xavier coming with them, but Harry figured he would be good company.
It was daft, since Harry didn’t even know his parents, but something about seeing Lucas’ grief at his father’s death struck deep in Harry and he didn’t relish the thought of being alone.
Tyler must have been thinking along the same lines, because he shrugged in response to Xavier’s comment.
“He was there for me when my mom died,” Tyler said as way of explanation. “You guys mind if we skip coffee? I know a quieter place, they’ve got milkshakes.”
Harry doubted if Tyler actually wanted a milkshake, as slumped as his shoulders were, but if he wanted a quiet and dry place to hang out for a bit, Harry wasn’t complaining.
If Harry felt miserable, he could only imagine how Tyler felt.
The three of them found the place Tyler led them to, a little hole in the wall diner called Dolly’s Diner, and they took a booth in the very back. Xavier ordered them each a vanilla shake, waving them off when Harry and Tyler both offered to pay, then they just sat there in silence while they picked at it.
Eventually, Xavier cleared his throat and attempted to grin at the other two.
“You know, if it was my dad’s funeral today, he’d be disappointed in the lack of TV crews to film him.”
Tyler huffed and sat up a little in his seat beside Harry. “Yeah? My dad would have had the full police force, fire department, and EMS all in dress blues for his funeral.”
“I’d be expected to be in a suit and not to cry, ‘men don’t cry, Xavier’,” Xavier said, deepening his voice for the last bit. “Tears would embarrass my dad.”
“I cried at my mom’s funeral and I swear my dad scooted away from me,” Tyler said with a humorless laugh. His eyes were a dark grey, stormy and sad. “You know I’ve never seen him cry for her, not once. He just… just threw away her stuff after the funeral. I didn’t even get to say goodbye properly because he had it closed casket.”
Harry hummed in sympathy and put his left hand on Tyler’s leg. Tyler grasped it in return and squeezed tightly.
It should have felt different, now that Harry knew what Tyler was - what he could do, what he’d done - but it wasn’t. If anything, Harry felt closer to him now. Who knew Tyler as well as Harry did? Who could understand Harry as much as Tyler could?
And that probably said more about Harry than he cared to consider.
“I wish I’d went to my parents funerals,” Harry said quietly, imagining what it would have been like. “Or if I did, I wish I remembered it.”
Harry doubted he did, from the way Sirius told it, Harry went straight from a blown up house to Surrey and there was no chance his aunt or uncle went to any funeral. Sirius probably would have, if he hadn’t went straight to prison.
Harry wondered if any of the people that James and Lily Potter loved had went to their funeral or if it had been packed by strangers who came because of the way they died instead of the way they lived.
Xavier excused himself after their drinks had all melted and conversation dwindled between them. Tyler said he’d drive Harry back and Xavier gave them a melancholy wave before wandering out.
“You want to stay here or go for a drive?” Tyler asked Harry not long after.
Harry was on his feet in an instant, suffocated in the diner as he felt. “Drive, please.”
Tyler seemed all too happy to comply and Harry felt like he could breathe easier in the passenger seat of Tyler’s car. For a few minutes, they just sat in the parking lot where Tyler had parked before the funeral, staring out the windshield at the falling rain while the vents warmed their fingers. Eventually though, Tyler turned to face Harry. He looked perfectly normal, but Harry could see the tremor in his lips and the shadows in his eyes that waited for Harry’s disgust, his rejection, his final goodbye.
It wasn’t going to come.
“My dad won’t be home tonight,” Tyler told Harry, reaching over to trace his the back of his knuckles on Harry’s cheek.
Harry nodded slowly. “Okay.”
Tyler’s lips quirked up in an amused half-smile. “Are you in a rush to get back to Nevermore?”
Harry bit his lower lip. He was waiting for the hospital to call and let Principal Weems know that Sirius was fully awake and talking, but also classes that day and the next had been canceled for the mayor’s funeral.
Why a school of outcasts canceled classes for the funeral of the normie mayor, Harry had no idea, but it wasn’t his job to make those decisions.
“I guess not,” Harry said. “I don’t think Ajax even notices when I’m in our room or not.”
“He’s a dick then,” Tyler said bluntly, as if it were fact. He looked over his shoulder to back out of the lot then casually put his hand on Harry’s leg while he began driving toward his house.
The closer they got, the more Harry remembered the conversation they’d had Sunday night.
Tyler had screamed, he’d cried, he’d begged, and he’d swore. And Harry had walked out still conflicted on what to do about him.
Harry wondered if he’d ever really had a choice.
Tyler flicked his TV on when he and Harry made it inside his house and Harry carefully removed his trainers by the door before sitting on the sofa. Tyler tossed his own shoes in the middle of his dining room and laid across the sofa on his back with his head in Harry’s lap.
Harry tentatively put his fingers in Tyler’s hair and moved a little more confidently when Tyler leaned in to his touch.
“I feel like you’re not real,” Tyler whispered with his eyes shut. “I’m going to wake up one day and you’ll be gone.”
Harry smiled sadly. “I feel like that all the time.”
Ever since he’d left lockup and been given a taste of real freedom, Harry worried he’d wake up in his cell one day, a prisoner once more.
Dr. Kinbott called it intrusive thoughts, Harry called it healthy skepticism.
Tyler reached up and grabbed Harry’s hand and brought it to his lips while he blinked slowly and focused on Harry’s face.
“Why are you still here?” he asked. “I told you… I told you everything, Harry.”
“I’m not some innocent victim, Harry! I’m not a lost cause! She might be controlling the monster, but the monster likes it. Something inside of me sings when I taste their fear, taste their blood.
“Aren’t you scared of me?”
“Because I get it.”
*****
“Enid, this is my Uncle Fester, Uncle Fester, this is Enid.”
“Enid Sinclair, pleased to meet you,” Enid said, bouncing forward with her arms outstretched.
Wednesday could hardly believe her eyes when she tracked down the person from the cemetery through the woods only to discover her Uncle Fester. He looked exactly as he had last time she had seen him- bald headed and incredibly shifty.
“She’s perky, I like her,” Uncle Fester declared while he allowed himself to be hugged by Enid.
Wednesday barely refrained from rolling her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Wednesday asked him.
“Your dad told me all about your excellent adventures since arriving and I was struck by sudden nostalgia. So!” Uncle Fester clapped his hands together and smiled widely, a sinister smile that Wednesday didn’t hate. “I came to see my favorite niece!”
“I’m your only niece, and I’m not buying your feel good family fluff,” Wednesday said. She stared unblinkingly at her uncle until he finally huffed and conceded.
“I might have gotten in a tight pinch with a bank out of Baltimore,” Uncle Fester admitted with a sheepish smile. “I needed a place to hide out and I thought I’d kill two birds in one dazzling getaway!”
Wednesday looked over behind her uncle and sighed at the absurd and bizarre motored bicycle he stole. It looked loud, it looked as if it stood out in a crowd, and it was in black and white cow print for Hades sake.
“You can’t stay here, it’s unsafe and the school is on lockdown,” Wednesday told her uncle. “You’ll never sneak in.”
“Never say never, my pigtailed protégé!” Uncle Fester said with a finger raised high. “You just head back to school like a good little student and I’ll meet you there!”
Enid gave Wednesday a shocked look, her lips open in a little pink o, when Uncle Fester ran off and all that was visible of him was the back of his bald head.
“He’s… different,” Enid said slowly. She looped her arm in Wednesday’s, an acceptable amount of physical contact, and they began making their way back to the school together.
“He’s rather kooky and a terrible thief, but he means well,” Wednesday informed her. “He’s a genius as well, he may be able to assist on our current mission.”
“Find the monster, kill it?” Enid asked.
Wednesday nodded approvingly. “Find the monster and kill it.”
When the girls returned to their dorm, Uncle Fester had already made himself comfortable at Wednesday’s desk.
“You girls have yourself a nasty monster problem,” Uncle Fester cackled. He propped his muddy boots up on Wednesday’s desk, earning himself a death glare, and waved a hand at the bulletin board of mysteries.
“Any ideas on who your blood thirsty Hyde is?” Uncle Fester asked.
Wednesday stilled, her mind whirling. “Our what?” she asked.
Uncle Fester’s cackle was even louder then, bouncing around the room mockingly.
“A Hyde,” he said. “It’s a rare power, I’ve only ever met one before. And she was a beaut, let me tell you. We met in the psychiatric hospital and bonded over electroshock therapy.”
“Romantic,” Enid said faintly, clutching Wednesday’s arm tightly.
“A Hyde as in Jekyll and Hyde, as in, Robert Stevenson’s novel?” Wednesday asked her uncle. “It’s based in truth?”
“All creepy things are,” Uncle Fester answered. He spun Wednesday’s chair around in a circle with a gleeful laugh. “And he has a book in the hidden library alllll about them.”
“No he doesn’t,” Wednesday told him with a frown. “Harry and I have been all through that library.”
“What hidden library?” Enid asked.
“Who’s this Harry?” Uncle Fester asked. “Your mom mentioned him, she seems like a big fan.”
Wednesday ignored their questions and focused on the murder and mystery board that hung behind her desk. If they could find a book about the monster - the ‘Hyde’ - then perhaps there would be something to help her discover how to locate and stop it.
“Do you know where this book is?” Wednesday asked Uncle Fester.
Uncle Fester held his hands in front of himself and nodded while he shot electricity back and forth between his fingers.
“Indeed I do,” Uncle Fester said gleefully. “And I would gladly make you a trade, my feisty fire-starter.”
Wednesday eyed her uncle shrewdly, her mind running away with the disgusting, gory, horrifying request her uncle may ask of her.
“What do you want?” Wednesday asked. She carefully disentangled her arm from where Enid still held it and crossed them over her chest. “I’ll commit murder, but I will not hug you.”
“A hug from you may be the last thing a person could see,” Uncle Fester shivered.
Wednesday nearly smiled, she was quite fond of her uncle. “Thank you.”
“I just want to meet this mysterious new nephew of mine before I leave,” Uncle Fester said while spinning the chair around again. “Any nephew of mine is sure to be electrifying!”
Enid jumped when electric bolts shot from Uncle Fester’s fingers in the air above his head. It was an old trick, one Wednesday didn’t find as amusing at sixteen as she had at six.
“Done,” Wednesday agreed easily. “Now come on, let’s fetch that book.”
“To the hidden library that I’m not supposed to know about!” Uncle Fester cried, rolling out of the chair theatrically.
“You go get Harry, I’ll go to the library,” Wednesday muttered to Enid. “The more we can learn about the monster, the quicker we can put it down.”
Enid nodded solemnly, “Harry’ll want to be here. I don’t know who wants the monster dead more, you or him.”
Considering that the monster put Harry’s last link to his lost parents in the ICU, Wednesday doubted if anyone wanted the monster dead as much as Harry.
*****
“Are you ready?” Harry asked Tyler.
They were standing across from each other in the forest behind Tyler’s house. Harry was buried beneath Tyler’s hoodie and coat, since all he’d had was the suit jacket he wore to the funeral, and Tyler was shivering shirtless across from him.
It was distracting.
And Harry wasn’t sure if Tyler was shivering from the cold or from fear; Harry himself felt more than a little worried about their experiment.
“Do you trust me?” Tyler asked Harry.
Harry stared across the opening at Tyler, nerves threatening to overtake him. It was a loaded question, one that felt like it went a lot deeper than just the surface situation they found themselves in.
“Yes,” Harry whispered, the wind blowing his reply to Tyler.
Tyler nodded and closed his eyes. “I won’t hurt you.”
“I know,” Harry replied. Tyler didn’t hear him though because he’d squeezed his eyes shut and every muscle in his body began twitching and quivering. It was fascinating; it was horrifying.
It was sort of beautiful.
If Harry had blinked, he might have missed it, that was how quick Tyler transformed. In less than two heartbeats, Tyler’s monster stood before Harry in all of its snarling and ferocious might.
But it didn’t move.
Tyler’s monster stood there, sniffing the air, breathing heavily, just staring Harry in the eyes.
“I can’t hurt you, she doesn’t want you hurt.”
Harry pushed away his fear and focused on the monster’s eyes, tricking himself to imagine there was some blue in those bottomless pits of darkness. Harry slowly raised his hands in front of his chest and knew that just because they weren’t shaking yet, didn’t mean they wouldn’t be soon.
“Do you trust me?” Harry breathed. The monster didn’t respond, it just stared at him, but Tyler wouldn’t have agreed if he didn’t trust Harry at least a little bit.
And people never trusted Harry, not really, but Harry had friends who did - friends who would be in danger if Harry didn’t do this right. And Tyler did.
Tyler trusted him.
Harry inhaled slowly and inhaled, impressed that his breath didn’t shake.
“Imperio.”